The present invention relates to the procedure of desoldering, i.e., the melting and removal of solder previously applied to a work object. Such de-soldering or solder-removal is typically needed in removing a component from a circuitboard, such as for repair and/or exchange; and desoldering has been a commercial task for many years.
The procedure and need of desoldering as a commercial procedure has caused a long-term development of apparatus useful for in the procedure. Solder pick-up hand tools have long provided a heating unit for melting the solder to be removed, and a tube into which the solder may be drawn by suction.
The prior art has used various techniques and procedures, with various types of heated equipment, more or less successfully throughout the years. Suction bulbs, for example, have been used to draw up the molten solder and to then expel it when the tool has been moved to a discharge can.
Mechanical equipment has also been used to achieve the suction and the ejection sequences of operativity; and indeed, it is such mechanical equipment, as shown by the U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,035, issued Jul. 2, 1974 to Rudy L. Kopernak that seems to be the least remote from the present invention, of any apparatus known to the inventor, and thus contrast is specifically shown as to that Kopernak patent.